Ohhh those french canadians...
This happen to me a about a month ago and I had some free time today So I thought I would share a little story.
My girlfriend and I have been together for almost 5 years now. I have been trying to get her to start carrying for the past couple years especially since shes very comfortable with guns and you don't need a permit to CC here in Vermont but she says she just doesn't feel the need and I'm here to protect her, I haven't pushed it hard, if she doesn't want to she doesn't want to. With that being said she loves to shoot and hunt. We go to the range all the time, go hunting together etc...
We live right next to the Canadian border. So we were driving up through the country looking for a place to camp (not hard to find in Vermont) when I pull onto a dirt road that goes back onto state land. State land here is open to all types of recreation, shooting, hunting, camping etc... I pass an old rusted gate wide open with brush growing around it (gate hadn't been closed in some time). The road winds through the woods and opens up into a big field. Theirs a bucket loader digging a giant hole way out in the middle of the field I kept driving a couple hundred more feet to a stream and pulled over to go check it out and see if it was a decent camping spot.
The road is a single lane dirt road so I pulled over with 2 wheels on the grass and 2 still on the road so if anyone else came they could get by. We walked around for 15 min or so and decided we would keep looking for a better spot. So I turn around and start heading back the way I came and I get to that gate and it's closed. So I turn around and drove the road back the other way to see if I could get out that way but a couple miles past the river where we stopped it dead ends. So I drive back to the gate looking for a way out. I look over at the guy off in the distance on the bucket loader and he had driven his dodge through the field and parked next to where he was working. I drove my jeep following his truck path that was already there over to the bucket loader.
He turns toward me, shuts off the bucket loader and crosses his arms as if he was saying "what do you want". I asked him "did you shut the gate" he says "yep" I said "could you open it please?" (being very polite). In his thick french Canadian accent he says "no chance in hell" I was stunned I didn't know what to say so I sat there for a minute and just looked at my girlfriend. I asked him if there was another way out and he said no. I asked him why he shut it and this sets him off. He jumps out of the bucket loader and as hes walking over to my jeep He's yelling " you stupid Americans you think you can drive on the grass and do whatever you want when you want I hate this disgusting country I'm proud to say I'm not from here"
So now I get it, this guy is working just over the border and hes Canadian and pissed looking to take it out on someone. So I said is this your land I'm sorry (figuring it must of been his property but there was no posted signs only state land signs) he says no I hate America it's filled with trash and litter and people like you. I have quite a temper but in the past years I have learned to control it which is good cause I was about ready to knock this guys teeth out. He's yelling at me for parking on the grass when hes digging a massive hole in the middle of a field. I said so your not going to open the gate then? He says nope you can find another way out. I start to explain to him that he's mad in the first place because I parked on the grass on public land and that in order for me to get out I would have to drive all the way across the field to the other side. After I said that he starts going for his truck and says your not going to drive anywhere in this field I have a shotgun for people like you!
OK...so now I put my hand on my .357 as hes going for his truck and I say to myself if I see a shotgun start to come out of the truck I'm unloading on this guy. He pulls out a key chain and says give me $20 and I will let you out or I'm calling the police. I started laughing hysterically and said I will wait until the police arrive you just told me you hate America and you threatened me with a shotgun, all I did was park on the grass I'm curious to see how this turns out tough guy. He stares me down for a minute mutters something under his breath and jumps in his truck and drives over to the gate. I slowly follow him keeping my distance. He gets out of the truck (I'm looking and making sure he doesn't have a weapon) unlocks the gate, swings it open and yells something but I couldn't tell what. I drive out safe and sound.
I didn't have any cell service in the mountains where we were so calling the cops right off was out of the question it was just me and him. Also when I asked if it was his land he said no so I then asked him how he got a lock for the gate if it wasn't his land and he replied "I bring my own lock for people like you". This guy was absolutely ridiculous, he was having a bad day or a bad life and I just happened to be in the wrong place to be his anger outlet. That's the closest I have ever came to shooting anyone and I tell you there was no doubt in my mind if I saw anything resembling a shotgun come out of that truck I would have shot him.
Two positive things came from this. My girlfriend now carries a colt detective special EVERYWHERE she goes. I learned yet again that keeping my cool and not antagonizing and getting into a brawl (which I would have loved to do with this jerk) with the guy led to another happy ending.
